Marlboro Vichyssoise

There is nothing to report on the front of the ruthless and jobless job hunting I've been doing over the last few weeks. I guess the credit crunch has really taken effect. Why we can't admit to being in a recession I don't know. I've finally uploaded some shots of the Marlboro Vichyssoise photos taken at the back of central library. They're a bit lacking but I guess most of the anecdotal photoessays I've done are.

Free day savers - how many email addresses have you got?

Having seen it on the back of a bus I've decided to add the same link as the guy or woman who writes Birmingham - it's not shit which obviously only does make you feel that it is in some way or other. This is the link to the FREE DAY SAVER that is being offered by Travel West Midlands at present. A day saver is a day long bus ticket that usually can be used on any bus after 9.30am for the whole of that day if you weren't familiar with it.

The blog is not bad and does give links to the sites of Cllr. Martin Mullaney on blogspot and the almost interesting interview with Andy Wickett, a former lead singer of Duran Duran who is at least very honest, lacking in pretentiousness and seems very down to earth which is probably why he had to leave Duran Duran. He dressed like a skin head and listened to dub reggae - maybe he was crossing a few musical boundaries that are just a little taboo in the music industry - you're either a nazi or someone who loves to cross multicultural boundaries, if only life was that simple....
listen to the Mullaney FM 3 - it is quite interesting. Go through to
Community Podcast Radio - The Mullaney Files.

Barnt Green - place of salvation

At the end of week two without a job I find myself meeting up with an old friend and going for a drink in Barnt Green. I don't know why I wanted to get to Barnt Green, I guess it's the type of place you go if you have a life of some form or other and you have not been a total failure in everything you've attempted. It's nice to hang out in those types of places and pretend that you're one of the successful ones. I guess much of city living is based around doing this sort of thing.

Have done all sorts of crap to my car since it has been MOT'ed which is something I am not used to doing. I kind of like dropping the car off and getting someone else to do the work - Haynes manuals just don't hit the spot to me in any respects what so ever.

Tomorrow, a swim and some preparation for the interviews I have on Monday. I've been meaning to get through a guide on how to approach interviews since I was about eighteen, should have read one when I was finishing my degree an I guess that I should have read a few by the time I had finished my MSc. Ever wanted a career in banking?

The image, a man who has a job in Goa, even if it is attending to his little flock.

One week of job hunting.

After spending just a week trying to get a job I've had very little in the way of success. The 'credit crunch' seems to be the flavour of the month as a phrase to describe the impending recession which I am not sure if it will take place or not. I’ve signed on with a couple of agencies and tried to get my CV sent to several others but nothing is really coming forward at present. One job application went in the post today and I would hope that this results in at least a refusal letter but these tend only to be sent by high profit margin companies.

I’ve signed on with Work Directions in order to get some support but they didn’t seem to think that I was going to be that in need of the service. I assume that I will not get much in the way of guidance through the next few weeks job hunting, perhaps wrongly.

I’ve had opportunity to check out some of the journals in Central Library that are kept in stack such as Aperture, an American photographic journal; Fotomagazine, a German journal and Creative Camera, Ten 8 and a couple of others. They provide a certain amount of background in terms of what social documentary photography has been comprised of over the last few decades and make quite good reading. I think it’s worth spending the occasional evening in there having a quick look through what they have available.

I’ve thought about the extent of the problems that I have at the moment and I regard there to be a strong chance that I’m facing severe hardship – not like the little cutie that demanded I take her photograph on the trek that I took in Nepal last year. She assertively came up to me and asked that I take her picture, lining the photograph up and requesting that the door behind her was used as a background. Nice of a six year old to arrange a shot for me like that. She lived in a very poor area and I don’t imagine that the nature of the problems in my life would have any meaning whatsoever for her and most of the people in the locality that she lives in.

Any relation?

I don't know if it's age that has made me logon to a website and start looking into my family history but it was something that I started to do earlier on today. I've seen a few people around who look a little like my Grandparents - or like myself more to the point. It has made me wonder if there's any genetic connection as we have an unlimited number of relatives, what tends to be the case in most families is that there is a limited capacity for how many we can deal with before it becomes more of a hindrance than pleasure. I don't know if there is much in the way of support on genes reunited but I guess that there could be a connection or two that I find.

I have spent an hour putting my family tree on Genes Reunited which was interesting as a way to spend time for a short while. I managed to get some information out of my dad on his family background which has not come forward that readily before - his mother's maiden name was Holland which I think is something that I should have been aware of many years ago really. On my maternal Grandparents side the family names were Parkes and Golding - though I don't know how Golding or Goulding would have been spelt as I never saw this in writing.

I have heard that people feel like tracing their family trees, at least prior to the advent of internet and the information superhighway, around the time of a birth in the family. A nephew of mine turned 18 recently which is a kind of later-day coming of age, a Brummie Bar Miztva, may be deep within our family culture and led to my family tree mapping. May be this event led to a need to look to the depth of family history that I hadn't looked into before. Difficult to say why people do these things....the picture above is of William and Beattie Parkes - the maternal Grandparents.

Oh bugger - commuter jazz

Well, I didn't have a camera this evening but I did manage to get to commuter jazz and watch most of the performance which to me was really just sweet music. I love the loud crazy atmosphere of the flamenco styled dancers and I just love the overall feel of the really quite amazing strumming and picking of flamenco guitar. It tends to be better when it's played in a manner of UK folk because a degree of earthyness, rhythm and depth that adds so much. Watching the hand movements of the flamenco dancer was really quite delightful when I think about the flickering movements of the guitar players with that as some form of visual harmony, as dance maybe should be. Life is sweet sometimes. It's a shame that it's not every day that I really feel that release. Tonight did kind of feel quite special but I didn't really think that I was going to feel that good about getting back to Birmingham and seeing the communter jazz business. The music alone was really quite special.

I don't feel that great about the weekend and the thought of protecting my car form rust and dealing with all the other things that I have to deal with but I must get on with the mundane in order to have some form of freedom from it. Once it's out of the way, it's done. Other Brummie sayings tend to leave me feeling that much better, I can't really say.

So, gis a job....

Back in Brum for a few days and I've managed to do all sorts of things including getting my car MOT'ed, get rid of the laptop that I managed to break quite significantly and get hold of this nice new-ish Toshiba. I've done hundreds of things and spent a considerable amount of time on the phone - ordering this and dealing with that. It has been a busy.

There have been hundreds of things to do and I have still managed to call agencies that I've been trying to get work through. None seem to be that interested in me at present which does cause a bit of concern. I have still to hit the internet job hunting sites and to get some assistance off work directions, but there isn't what I can call any interest in my job skills.

I Wish I could get a job, but if I like jokes like that one, I guess I'm making things difficult for myself. More job hunting tomorrow....

Back in Brum

Well, I've got the things that I left at Morningside - despite having lost one or two of them along the way owning to a few drinks I had in the Rocket before leaving Coventry. It was good to see the place again and how picturesque the rather unappealing sights are. I like the city on the whole. Back in Birmingham now and ready to face what life deals me - I hope I can do a little about the types of problems that I couldn't do a great deal about before I left the UK. I just wish I could get to grips with this type of nonesense and get things closed up that have affected me over the last few years.

Tomorrow, I have all the joys of looking for work and trying to get somewhere to live. I just hope that I can find something reasonable work-wise that doesn't leave me with no reason to live and that I can find somewhere half decent to live within a month or so.... to be continued....

Leaving Madrid...

I feel settled, rested and more focused than I was three months ago, so to a large extent I do feel as if there's been a more than a moderate success in sorting myself out of the last quarter through this long haul backpacking trip. It hasn't been without expense - I would have preferred to have done more throughout the trip and not to have had the two bouts of illness that left me without energy for days at a time. I was particularly lazy in areas that I can go back to that deserved more in the way of investigation, for instance, San Cristobal de las Casas, in Mexico I could have done far more, and Antigua, Guatemala deserved more in the way of investigation. There was also very little in the way of action around Juayua, El Salvador where I could have been doing more exploring and in Esteli, Nicaragua rather than lounging around in cafes etc etc etc. I didn't get to see Isla de Ometepe in Nicaragua at all apart from in passing as I went by on the road to Costa Rica. I guess I've at least made the effort to do something in Madrid having been here for nearly a week. I didn't go out and club in the Madrid like manner but I did find my way through a couple of the main attractions and get to recover from the bulk of the jet lag that I've had over the last few days.

Overall, a successful trip, but I've got the usual grind of trying to get back into work and aiming at getting myself sorted out in the UK - whether I'll be able to get to grips with issues in contemporary living that I haven't over the last few decades remains to be seen. I've not wanted to join what to most people is normal life but to me, thanks to the Specials, was only really known as the Rat Race. I don't know why I have't bothered with civilisation for so long - it's only when I explore a lost civilisation in lost Mayan kingdoms that I start to think about life in the West Midlands. Maybe I should try to get to grips with living with one of the hill tribes around the Midlands, in Dudley for instance, in order to understand the roots of the local culture. Perhaps not.

Back packing should like all other travel experiences open up the way you live at home and help assist with understanding the process of 'being cultured', being open to new experiences without being gullible and in some ways just to broaden living experiences and cross cultural understanding. I guess that has happened though my lasting memories will include most of the women who worked behind bars in Belize looking at me as if I'd just turned up to try and shag as many women on the island as possible. Somehow convincing people that you're on some form of cultural exploration may not be that straightforward. I don't think I did look like I was in Belize just to screw the local women - I think it was their fertile imaginations working overtime. Mind you my senses have been working just a little overtime in Madrid, the style of the women here is generally quite pleasant - bold, attractive and feminine without being dirty, cheap or flirtatious. It is like a lot of the food (overpriced like the tapas, you may be wondering if you've been here? No,) the bare essentials which are necessary aren't over dressed or contorted to a form where they don't resemble what they began as. They retain their genuine attractiveness.

I think my mind may have slipped slightly since I've spent the best part of two days looking at images in art galleries, lunching away and then getting back into the same galleries to try to take more in again in the afternoon. The attractiveness of some of the women here does start to resemble how I sometimes relate to food - there's a women at the breakfast bar who resembles fruit salad - something light and wholesome, she has almost fruit like appeal. As I was thinking about her an English woman came and sat next to me who seemed to resemble roast beef and yorkshire pudding - 'once every two weeks and it'll keep your stamina up', I guess is not a compliment to most women, but there is something a little more substantial about her. As I state - this isn't necessarily good comparison. Women aren't food, though there could be overlaps in terms of how fashion is driven, how men and women are almost forced to appeal to each others who they wish to through high-street-forces, and there could be impacts made by the comments made by television chefs like Robert Carrier, who said something to the effect of a meal is eaten with the eye even before you've tasted a morsel, which may reflect little more than the consumerism-driven culture that we live in. Women don't need to look different to accompany food, nor to look different at various points throughout the day - though there could be a large number of forces acting which we don't always give consideration to.

It leaves me feeling hungry all this talk of food....I've got a flight to catch. Oh, and the picture above is Van Gogh, earless, which didn't make him appeal that much to his lady-friend. He was done up like a kipper if anyone was, probably worse than Hancock was.

Final day in Madrid - My Birthday.

Up about seven after about a further eleven hours sleep and time to think about hitting some of the galleries in the West Midlands when I get back after having had the experience that I have in the galleries in Madrid over the last few days. It has helped keep me a composed state of mind and to retain what I class as normality - which if I have to develop more than a passing interest in fine art in order to maintain this then so be it.

Art galleries in the west midlands include - the contemporary Ikon Gallery, the award winning
'New Art Gallery', Walsall though how many galleries which cost as much as that one aren't award winning in some way or other I can't say, Wolverhamptons' Art Gallery, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts on the campus of the University of Birmingham, the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists which I know next to nothing about and should investigate upon return and finally the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery the last of the orthodox style state funded galleries of the West Midlands. I don't think any of them have any strong interest in photography and there are probably dedicated museums in London that do and of course the National Museuem of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford is there, but is just a little bit too far away.

The Temple Gallery is more of a framing shop as far as I can see, number nine: the gallery appears to be a shop on Brindley Place rather than a gallery I guess, the art lounge another shop in the Mailbox as is Claire Galleries another shop with a Birmingham address.

Further East to Coventry there is the Herbert Art Gallery, the University of Nottinghams' Arts Centre and Leicesters' Art Gallery. I guess then there are the galleries around Manchester Liverpool and further afield. That's also without going near those in London which would include The British Museum, The National Gallery, The Photographers' Gallery, County Hall Gallery, The Barbican Centre, Whitechapel and Colomb Art Gallery which appear to be the City's main art galleries.

Plenty of exploring to do upon return to the UK.....will it feel the same there as it does in Madrid though? The image above is another of Steichens' whose work I saw yesterday in the Reina Sophia. As for this being my birthday, it does feel quite nice to plan out a few visits to the art galleries around the Midlands while you're waiting for the breakfast bar to open in the hostel. Hopefully I'll get a lot out of it - why do galleries leave me feeling so restful - was it that experience in the Pushkin Gallery in Moscow all those years ago?

Centro de arte Reino Sofia - the work of Edward Steichen.

So, I've had several cameras over the last few years and I haven't heard of Edwards Steichen until today. The exhibition space in Madrid is well organised as you'd imagine with this being the country that gave Miro, Picasso and Dali to the world. What struck me as unusual today was what a strong template Steichen had provided to form the contemporary exhibition over fifty years ago, which still seems to not only set a standard but also to provide more of a core of what an exhibition space should be about. While I was unaware of famous Beligians, I didn't know too many famous people from Luxembourg - where Steichen was from.

I found it difficult to get to grips with the notion of approaching fine art photography after the brief meeting I had with Rhubarb Rhubarb, and having seen the work of Steichen who over half a century ago had made an impression on virtually every field of photography through from portraiture, advertising photography, still life, war photography and how photography should be exhibited, I could understand why I'd been referred away to do more reading and why I was deemed to be producing nothing more than cliches. Maybe Steichen had done virtually everything in photography before I was born. It appears that he may have done. The shots I took of Birmingham through the trees look dreadfully unoriginal looking at the cover of 'The Early Years'. I guess there's more to originality than I first anticipated. I didn't have the peace of mind to recall the images that I've seen before, now I have a much greater chance. I guess the originality now comes in terms of how the elements are put together.

A mission statement for Midlands Views....

MIDLANDS VIEWS: The five key areas of this blog.

What does this site have for me? Personal development issues, professional development issues..

 The Midlands as a social, economic and environmental zone. What is driving change in the area? Are there going to be key changes taking place in the next few years that we are aware of? What is the nature of the social cultural and political change that is taking place over the next few years. How can we best adapt to the changes that are taking place? Town planning and architecture – are the working classes going to be involved in the processes more or is this the preserve of the Councillor? What place does the city have as a unit within the context of global politics and to what extent is the area of the Midlands and West Midlands dominated by the cities within the area? How well informed are the public on the common agricultural policy and it’s implications for the residents of the area? What are the major issues of the urban-rural divides? How long standing are these and to what extent should we look for resolution to these issues over the next few years? What are the key organisations for establishing the Midlands historically – how well organised are the art galleries, museums and other organisations which contribute to the portrayal of the area to the public – both those that live in the area and those from outside?



 The nature of politics in the Midlands area – e.g. What is the areas involvement in civil rights, how is this ongoing? Is there an adequate approach to politics in the area? How can the area be better managed? Are there forms of culture in the West Midlands that may need to be preserved? What areas of cultural development can be considered as part of a city wide strategy? Are we developing our own political approaches and if so, will what is taking place in the area at present contribute towards a Midlands Assembly? Social and ecological approaches to health and well-being. Is there an adequate voice for the community in the West Midlands – can this be expanded by a clearer role for community journalism in the area, can this be better supported by the voluntary sector in the area? Is there going to be adequate growth in community journalism through pursuits like blogging? National political leadership – how is this impacting upon the localities politics? What are the major achievements of the city in terms of political development. Has there been consideration given to the notion of Birmingham becoming a Healthy City? Constitutional reform and the House of Lords may be a significant issue of the time – does the notion of a Midlands Assembly interest the electorate – if so, why? Is gender issues campaigning to be carried out differently in the Midlands area than elsewhere in the UK? What sort of political entity does the city need to be? Policing in the West Midlands – have the police been in a position to deal with the national level corruption – do organisations like Transparency International do anything to offer resolution to this?



 Psychology, mental health and well-being with particular emphasis on the population of the Midlands. Will I be able to close the experience that I’ve had? Will I find that there is a particularly good reason for there to be change in the UK in terms of how mental health and social and economic change are approached? Theory and approaches to health and well being – should well being be monitored differently in the West Midlands area? Social ecological approaches to health and well being – do they have more than a more basic form of appeal? When is conspiracy healthy to engage in and when is it health damaging? What are the orders of discourse relating to the extent of openness that someone can offer relating to their mental health status? Does the settings approach offer very much in the way of offering genuine improvements to the process of cultural change to improve health.



 Personal Development which includes developing as a result of a range of experiences which can contribute to coherence – how does the workforce develop in the Midlands area, is this different to other areas of the UK or the world? Discourse, language, culture and social change – what changes are taking place in the language that we use and to what extent can this provide a window on some of the social changes that are taking place in the city? Discrimination, prejudice and dealing with the changes in culture from a culture of humiliation to humility? How can the overall process be best managed? Do we get adequate chance to express ourselves through the arts in the West Midlands – are we in any way limited in order to be socially controlled? Who defines what images of beauty are in the West Midlands – who defines what a strong a beautiful natural landscape is? What skills are necessary to develop a series of images for exhibition? Has the work I’ve done through CAB shaped me strongly as a person? If so, in what ways? To what extent is there a need to consider the skills and importance of academics in wider society? What does academia offer? Etiquette norms and adapting to society – is there scope to inform each other of norms in other ways? Do we get opportunity to develop through writing – is this something that can be enhanced in the area in a more multi-cultural context? How can the arts offer more in the way of social harmony? Photo-essay to film industry – can the basic skills of cinema be taught through use of photography? Can the photo-essay be used more extensively to document life in the Midlands area?



 Professional development in the context of learning from past work experience and becoming more of a whole individual who may take forward issues for professional development. Are there adequate means to address the major problems in the Midlands area? Are the population who make up the workforce getting adequate opportunity for personal development? Anecdotal information regarding the work I’ve done in community safety and health promotion. Approaches to community work in the UK – when not to use a social marketing approach etc.

The Secret to Building a Popular Blog (and Getting Tons of Readers)

Having cut and paste something the other day on how to build a successful blog I decided against the post. There was something that left me feeling very much bereft of why I blog - it is partly to express myself and not just to highlight issues which I think may be of substance in terms of the issues of the day.

Of the notes I made they tended to reduce down to the following :-

The process of blogging is not just one of writing – to an extent you’re editor in chief of a publication and aiming to form a web community which will be of interest to a group who share concern for the main issues of the blog.

There are a number of pre-requisites which need to be fulfilled for a blog to be successful. This includes –
 Researching and producing good quality material – this is the prime objective in forming a core audience. The next objective should be of developing multiple distribution channels and a core audience. Building relationships for content distribution is the important next step.
 Establishing a supportive circle of readers who can act as peer reviewers may be important. Could an NHS related site have a readership partly of individuals who may be interested in getting peer reviewed publications at a later stage in their careers? A site which may have the opportunity to state within a confidential environment issues concerning the nature of organisational development which may not be getting the necessary coverage.
 Setting up a network through which the blog will act is part of the process. The first act of networking begins with offering content of an article to the readership this may require some form of emotional engagement – a genuine commitment to the author. Networking here is a non-exchange relationship, where the author offers in effect a gift, something of value to the audience without requiring a response or financial or other recompense.
 The blog must demonstrate commitment to the other party. Make them aware of linking, sharing and promoting yourself to other blogs and sites. Use supporting communication means to deal with this – ensure that they are used in a suitable manner.
 Various communication modes will be necessary. Staying in one communication mode is a poor method of networking. Encouraging interaction between readers through group discussion – is an excellent way to draw people into your circle – there needs to be some form of commitment from them to the blog because they favour it as a product or service.
 Translation of the blog into other languages also makes your content accessible to a larger market.
 Practice guest blogging – blog on sites where the readership may be broadened from. This is a good means of forming a good supportive audience.
 Editorial submissions - get someone to complete an article which may be suitable to broaden the readership. This is an article written for the blog by someone who may attract web traffic. Social marketing and social-media web-sites are suitable distribution channels.
 A well marketed article can bring large numbers of visitors. Choose a content topic which is suitable to the blogs focus and relevant to the channel that you’re using.
 Aim to be talked about, you’ll get traffic and new readers one way or another. The quality of your content is incredibly important but equally so, is the presence of a core audience that will help to push your content and brand. Actively develop a group of peers or readers that’ll support you and your efforts will pay off handsomely. The next time you create a fantastic article or break news, you’ll notice the powerful advantages that come with broad distribution channels.
 Development of a core audience - is relevant, as is dissemination of the contents. Broadening the readership is important – try forming some linkages with other existing blogs about the same issue areas. Raise issues which will broaden the readership – which will need to be circulated (and can be legitimately circulated without causing any form of infringement).
 Use a series of articles to develop a core readership and use this to develop an audience.
 Content dissemination and the development of a supportive core audience - content is one issue it’s the channels which are used for circulation – what channels are available for promoting the blog? What are the most suitable? Is there going to be any interest in this issue area? The bloggers themselves make up a significant part of the audience that is available, not just a targetted audience.
 Mindshare – discussing what is classed as familiar. Aim to become a place where mindshare can take place, i.e. that a site can be discussed because it’s one of a person’s favourites. Use of terms – core audience, network. distributive power. A core audience is faithful to the content of the blog – it allows a blog to ‘spiral outwards’ from the group members.

The core groups should be made up of:
 They are bloggers, each with their own audience. They have their own websites and readership.
 They are influential thought leaders in their niche. – i.e. they are key points in the network – nodal points.
 They have the ability to send you links and traffic. – they are going to be a source of web-traffic.
 They are loyal readers who value your content and opinions. They will stick with the blog and provide support to it. They will follow your blog regularly and read most of what you write.
 They may also be the target audience for your content. They will be interested in some of the content of the blog.

Summary
The core audience needs to be developed – in the sense that the readership can be broadened and the relationship with the reader can be developed. The value of a core audience may be assessed in terms of the audience’s ability to make a blog which breaks news hit the mainstream media. Larger readership of a blog – this will be established when the blog becomes more and more credible – the trust in the blogger increases. This can increase with more citation links taking the reader through to the blog.

A broad readership to a blog provides a means of establishing the credibility of an author. The blog may as a result release information in the same manner that journalism could do. A core readership of other bloggers may be a suitable place to begin. They need to provide distributive power, and a network of links for possible web traffic. They disseminate relevant articles in the blog. Relevant information to the reader needs to be established – this can be researched. Citation links to the blog need to be increased in order to increase the volume of webtraffic. Networking, as an emotional interaction needs to be undertaken forming a dependency for the reader.

Conclusions.
Unless I can establish information relating to the action that I’ve been subject to over the last few years then I am not going to gain any degree of ‘journalistic credibility’. I also have stated points of view which have been clichéd and have reflected the state of mind I was in. This may be a phase that I need to deal with in order to develop a core readership. There are issues relating to my misconduct at work which should be considered as the basis for some behaviour change. I should address this form of issue. There are issues relating to the overall manner that I operate in considering the standard of my personal hygiene etc. which may make me less than a credible individual– this may also need to be addressed but not necessarily through the blog. This is going to severely limit the credibility that I have as a result of the ‘odd behaviour’. This has also been rather unusual formation of relationships over the past few years.

Also there have been a number of people who have been doped around me when I was a child who may relate to me as someone very young irrespective of how I behave. I won’t be believed on matters like this and I should consider the implications of stating that this type of action can take place –it would result in further loss of credibility if any has been established.

The nature of conspiracy theory as a potential source of originality of a blog could be an interesting area for development and a suitable one for gaining a wide audience which I have adequate credibility to develop. With a suitable core of peer-reviewers I may be able to develop some articles on the basics of the NHS and reform within that area. Other professional development blogs, which are going to be a substantial part of my work, may also require adequate peer involvement which I don’t at present have.

Many of these issues are possibly already better stated in the types of literature produced by Norman Fairclough regarding discourse and textual analysis. The journalistic quality of an article and the need to stay in contact with what is in the media does not get raised. Finding a suitable group of bloggers to provide the publicity and community may take much longer in certain fields where this is present at the moment. The bulk of the article is geared towards increasing web traffic and not necessarily increasing the depth that they blog is read at – this is going to be more difficult to establish.

Issues like the quality of research and the quality of input into the writing of a blog are going to be the major means of getting the blog established – dissemination of information following this then may lead to the establishment of the blog but this is the most critical thing about the blog – the quality and presentation of material.

The process of forming a web community who can then promote your blog may be very optimistic – there is probably a need to consider the blog as some form of e-zine and to establish this in respect of the normal means to get an e-zine started, through promotions and special offers? There may also be other means of establishing a readership of credible others who can source much of the stability of the blog.

Galleries - too few to mention.

I went to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection today. If you can't be bothered to read just watch this it's a clip from Educating Rita and while I only liked the film on a couple of levels when it came out, mostly as a comedy, it does manage to capture some of the complexities of the class jump and broadening awareness of the wider world, including artistic appreciation. That is really how it felt being privvy to the paintings that were in the gallery today. I lost count of the Monet's and Degas's, the ocassional Van Gogh's and the Constable's mixed in with the Berlin School works alongside the Caneletto's and the Pissaro's. It's one thing being privvy to the work but it's such a good setting as well. I don't know what this compares to in the UK - it makes the collection in the galleries of the City Council, University of Birmingham and elsewhere around the Midlands seem pale in comparison though it has whetted my appetite for seeing everything in the established galleries of the West Midlands.

There's something in me saying aim to transcend class like nothing else. I can't really state that I think it's what I'm going to be good at but there's something important about this as an issue of the day - it may have been dealt with well on other levels and in other countries better than this has been elsewhere but I guess that I can only state that I feel that this is something that I feel a great connection to.

Tomorrow to Toledo to check out the ancient town. Today was spent largely reflecting on issues that should have remained largely within my youth. It was good to be in such a setting when I was feeling so much like putting some form of ending on the trip to central america. I guess there's a limited amount of 'beauty' within such a setting and that I can only find a means of expressing how I felt - it was really only the opening to what was considered the finest of arts that had remained closed to anyone of working class background that was really that special today. It was open, the staff in the gallery seemed to be pleased that I wanted to come back in the afternoon to see more after having been in the gallery for the bulk of the morning. They may have known that I was going through some form of 'Educating Rita experience' - bollocks to them, I don't care if I was. It felt like some form of opening of interest, not of anything more. I hope it stays with me.

Settling in - Madrid's cheap hostels

I had forgotten why I tend to stay in the smaller hostels when I go backpacking until this morning when I had to get through the bathroom of Cat Hostel at eight o'clock with about forty other people coming through the system at the same time. It wasn't something that I'd tried to do since I'd been in some of the larger hostels in Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand. Being in the larger places in Australia struck me as a bad idea - the number of backpackers passing through the turnstiles in a place like Sydney is vast. I don't know what the underbelly of the backpacker scene in London is like though I imagine it's very similar to the Ozzie and Kiwi scenes, I can't imagine that it's very different to this place.

I was sleeping in a mixed dorm with very mixed people one of whom looked a little like Lucy Hurdman, a girlfriend from Birmingham many years ago. She had a summer dress on and had falled asleep on her bunk when I was pottering about trying to decide what to do after finding out that both of the art galleries that are meant to offer free entry on a Sunday, the Thyssen and Prada, were both closed looking like they were being subject to extensive refurbishment. I didn't want to tell her that one of her breasts had fallen out of the side of her dress and was visible to me and the other five men who were staying in the dormitory. I sometimes wish the etiquette of helping someone was a little less cloudy. I presume she would have wanted to be informed of what she was doing - hopefully she won't find out through this blog. Maybe I shouldn't be that bothered when lots of men wander around in a mixed shower block with their knobs hanging out. What's a nipple after all?

It was pretty strange falling asleep last night at about seven o'clock after having stayed awake for as long as possible. The jet lag didn't affect me at all until then, apart from going a little light headed when I was wandering the plazas in the afternoon. Everyone else did seem to head out about midnight and not get back until the small hours.

Passing through the doors of the hostel did feel very much like a sardine - to say things were impersonal would be putting it mildly. Still, I guess if you want personal treatment then you don't necessarily find yourself heading to the budget end of accomodation in a capital city. Today, to find an open art gallery or two and to find something in the way of life that I should make me feel that Madrid is the vibrant capital city that everyone seems to tell me it is.

Madrid - what a rip off.

Well being totally unused to holidays having only really been to Pontins and on backpacking breaks I totally underestimated how busy Madrid was going to be at this time of year. I've been here for a few hours now and have just had to go online to make reservations to stay in what seems like a reasonable hostal which is pretty central - it's called the 'Mad Hostal', if that gives any indication of what the place is going to be like. I'm not sure that it's a good idea to stay the whole time in Madrid, I think it's pretty expensive here - not that I'm planning on eating everyday. The flight was good. I'd fly Iberia again, not that I can tell any difference between airlines. The passage through the airport was effortless apart from the fact that I've broken my camera which I was planning on using extensively while I was in Madrid. Oh, shite.... I'll just have to remember what the place is like.

Other than seeing some of the best art galleries in the world in the next couple of days, I don't know what I am going to do while I'm here. The plazas are raved about in my guide book and I've wandered through about a dozen today on the way from hostal to hostal, some were breathtaking and others, well they really lacked atmosphere. Gone are the days where the choice of hotel was between a place that cost two pounds a night or three at the most. I miss central america being so tight fisted. I do at least feel relaxed knowing I've got a reservation in place and that I can at least rest assured that I can get my head down tonight and then move on from Cat's Hostel to the Mad Hostal - feel I should have been doing this on an inter-railing trip when I was about 19 at the oldest, but I guess I can manage for the time being.

Goodbye to Central America.

Must admit that it was really disappointing this morning to get the taxi from the Hotel Trocamundo to the airport. In the distance from the hotel there was the sight of the Costa Rican rain forest and the hotel reception was well stocked with information on tours around the area including rain forest tours that looked like they'd have a flavour of excitement. The way the rain forest is portrayed here is very different to that in the rest of central america, it's hyped and presented in the manner of the set of I'm a celebrity get me out of here with hanging decking linked by steel cables hung up high near the top of the canopy of the rain forest.

I managed to pass through the crowds this morning and get breakfast in the McDonald's where the major road works are taking place. I don't know if they've found some dinosaur bones under the streets and they're taking them up to find more of the lost world. Costa Rica trys to promote itself as such a dinosaur kingdom.

Departure tax is $26.00US which stung me for virtually all of the cash that I'd put aside for nibbles in the airport while waiting for that glorious moment when I can board that plane taking me back to Europe. Madrid should be nice for a few days, I've managed to get the Lonely Planet for Spain in the airport which will come in useful considering that I don't have a clue where to go or where to stay when I get to Espana tomorrow lunch time. I saw Nadal win the Wimbledon Championship as I was getting my first coffee in the airport lounge. It was really quite moving and I'm sure the victory for Espana, the second of the summer bearing in mind Euro 2008 - I'm sure the point is being well made in the media, so it may not be a bad time to be there.

I don't know if I'll be revisiting Plymouth days and dropping in Lawrence Body in Andalucia. Malaga is going to be too far out of the way. I want to get to know a little more about Madrid and try to plan a few well spent days, rather than what I've done so much of the time in Central America which is have a well planned day, not done what I've planned and then spent a huge amount of time in cafes and bars with nothing on the agenda other than drinking as much coffee as is humanly possible and smoking as many cheap cigarettes as my throat will take.

One thing which did surprise me about Alajuela, the town where I have spent the last two nights, was that there were a lot of attractive women about which I don't know if it's linked to the American presence and the influence that this may have on how women present themselves or if it's because there is a genuinely more attractive population in Alajuela, I can't say. It may in effect be little more than a satellite town for San Jose and attract the middle classes who may no longer want to live within the big city. There does seem to be a more 'Costa Rican look' than I think I found in any of the other countries I went to. In most other countries people looked to have one of a number of influences - including Mayan, African-Black or hispanic. Here there seems to be a more homogeneous look rather than the several groups of 'looks' that there are else where in central america. This tends only to stand for the women - the men here appear to have looks which are more heterogeneous, the look as if they're from multiple ethnic genetic groups. [I saw a woman outside the airport who looked very much like Lizzy Parks who describes herself as a Devon lass, she's of partly Central American origin, like Girls Aloud and thousands of other Brits in show business. I wonder if she's explored this....One thing I'm glad I didn't explore was the low end of the bars in Alajuela, excuse me if I seem too conservative but I wasn't sure if one I wandered into last night was a whore house. There were only men in there appart from three women who all had virtually nothing on. I did think it might have been a strip club but if they were strippers the dancing would have kept them a bit fitter. I decided to leave pretty much after entering. I found a place with cheeky barmaids (with clothes) and cheap beer, easily pleased me.

Only one hour now to go to the boarding...I just don't want to go. I would rather have stayed here for a wee while longer and just had to end. It's a great place to be lazy...

Costa Rica - rich coast.

Well, made it here last night. Went out of Nicaragua from Granada to Rivas and then to the border which was not great ordeal. Immediately, as I got into Costa Rica things changed, perhaps only very slightly but there was a noticeable difference that there didn´t really seem to be anywhere else with border crossings elsewhere in Central America.

Costa Rica has a much closer alliance with the USA than anywhere else and has a greater mumber of expats living here than any other Central American country. As a result the impact of the US economy is more prominent, Nicaragua having virtually no desire to link with the US multi-nationals and Costa Rica seeming to welcome them with open arms, for example.

The bus journey from the border to Alajuela where I currently am, was not arduous, the roads here in Costa Rica seem significantly better than in Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador. It was five hours of guessing where I was before getting close to the airport where I fly out of tomorrow before leaving the bus to get a taxi and get the Christian couple up who run the hostal that I´m staying in. They had some form of Evangelist service in one of the back rooms here so I don´t think it´s a good place to ask for mujeres, that is ´women´, as I´ve seen a couple of backpackers do in the occasional hostal.

I didn´t explore much beyond the city centre here. It´s a town of 180 000 and has a relatively pleasant atmosphere around the town which is probably why the place is recommended as an area to stay away from the bustle of San Jose 30 km away. At present it´s being repaved in the centre and was a bit of a nightmare to get through and having a McDonalds when there was a children´s party going on was equally as frustrating.

There was a certain vibe about the market that I walked through which was remarkably similar to the Bull Ring Markets of the 1970´s and 1980´s. I don´t know if this type of comparison created the impetus for having the centre of Birmingham redeveloped, perhaps that is just too paranoid. I quite like the reminiscence of visiting somewhere that reminds me of 1970s Birmingham - it was one of the reasons I liked Coventry, it did have a strong feel of the same type of urban design that Birmingham had - I hope they feel proud of it, I think it´s fine as a city. I assume it would create some disquiet for people in the developed world to see shopping facilities in a country like Costa Rica which are very similar to those in the UK - what the hell it´s only the developed world because we colonised/fXXKed over so many countries all those hundreds of years ago. Maybe the Costa Rican´s would be embarrased to find out their market is like the Bull Ring was, who knows. That old Birmingham-Central America links remains in my mind....

Tomorrow, I leave central america having failed to get through to the offices of Iberia airlines to change my flight. They´ve been constantly engaged for about a week or so. Then Monday, to arrive in Madrid to try my damndest to learn just a little more Spanish.....somehow I don´t think it´s going to happen.

Flu-ed out again

Haven't been as ill as I was yesterday since Antigua - it was a pretty hellish cold. I've managed to at least get up today, yesterday I only made it to the corner shop and a few dodgy chemists to get some lemsips or what ever the local equivalent is.

Today, I try to reset the date of my flight and sort myself out to head towards San Jose, Costa Rica in the next day or two. I may be flying out on the 6th if I can't change the day of the flight which means a lot of travelling tomorrow if that's the case.

I won't get into the habit of beating myself up over not having achieved all I could have done when I've been in this area - there is certainly a lot to do around here and I don't think I've done a third of what I could have done if I was in a good state of health. However, I've seen the area and spent time lounging around in cafes and bars doing relatively good things the majority of the time. My Spanish is slightly better though I can't say that I think that I'm what I'd class as fluent.

I don't like to reflect on what has gone on to any great extent over the last few months in relation to my state of health but I can only guess that I have overall improved. I can't say that this is the dream break that I would have liked it to have been - I don't know if it is at all. The area is interesting and the current political situations have been alive and dominant from time to time in terms of what has been going on around here. That hasn't really engaged me and I haven't had that degree of connectedness to the area that I would have liked. It's felt very much like I'm passing through and despite a connection to a few of the people that I've met I've still had a lot of questions about what's been going on.

I've met the same people that have been on the same Lonely Planet trail and have seen them in various towns and places across the Central America area. There have also been a large number of people I've seen who bear a strong resemblance to those I've known in the UK for the last few years. It has made me wonder about the nature of, I presume Catholic, links between Birmingham and Central America - there could be hundreds.

The problem of having the 24 hour flu bug I've got at the moment does tend to leave me feeling that I'm going to spend my last few days here dealing with the illness and the Red Dwarf like dreams that I've had over the last 24 hours - I did spend much of the time asleep.

Picture up top is of the cathedral in the Parque Central in Granada - other shots of Granada on Lemsip are there on flickr, just click the link.

Made it to Granada.

This place is very cool as cities go - it certainly does feel steeped in history. Haven't managed to take shots yet, that is tomorrow as is a trip to La Isla De Ometempe. Shots are online now of Leon, the shots of the journey to Leon from Esteli and a few shots of Managua to Granada. I didn't stay in the capital city for long - like the other Central American capitals there's a slightly higher crime rate than elsewhere in the country and I don't like the idea of having a knife stuck in me too much.

Shot above is of a very nice lady who was selling ciggies in the bus station in Managua which was not the best turned out bus station I've ever seen. I don't know if the shots of the toilet that I tried to get were refused on the right grounds but the toilet really was a bit of class. It was quite the most shocking of sights and the toilet attendant started arguing with me because he seemed to think it was too political an act. I'm sure there are other toilet photographers who are subject to such restriction - I recall a few in China. I missed out on all those quality shots. It's difficult to really define art adequately in this context - so watch this again.

What happened last night....

For years I found it amusing that a friend of Andy Bishop had come home drunk and then found himself in his parents bedroom as the light came on and he realised that he was urinating in their wardrobe. I don't know why this type of image caused me such mirth for so long, after all the man had only been out drinking and had then had one of those short memory blanks which resulted in him finding himself doing something that he would not ordinarily have done.

I was very suprised when somethning similar happened to me last night. I was not really what I could call amazingly drunk and I went to sleep with many of the faculties that I had when I started drinking. What surprised me a great deal was the feeling of awakening when I realised I was doing something that I shouldn't be doing. It was very annoying and it did cause me a great deal of frustration, as it did for the poor American guy I had been urinating on during the small hours of the morning. He most certainly was not happy and I was glad that we didn't come to blows and the hostel manager was content to allow us to resolve matters between ourselves. I went and hid as a result.

There is what I could class some anti american feeling in Nicaragua owing, I presume largely, to the Reagan funding of the Contras which basically cost lives. There are only marginal differences between Honduras and Nicaragua in terms of the visible culture of the place, but those include for instance a total lack of prescence of the American corporation - the multinationals that are all over Honduras are not present in Nicaragua. There is apparently one McDonalds in the country in Managua, the capital. There are also a few people selling Marxist and Leninist literature in the form of pamphlets etc on the street but there doesn't seem to be a big trade in these as they're not recently produced and they're certainly not selling like hot cakes.